Two walls meet at an angle in the heart of Tavascan. These structures represent the remaining shell of the Romanesque parish church of Sant Simó. Observe the irregular masonry and plaster. Notice the external buttresses and the half-round arch window on the taller western wall. These features invite us to look closer at what remains.
Records from 1314 identify the site as a parish church. By the pastoral visit of 1575, the name of the site was already recorded as Sant Bartomeu de Tavascan. The documents do not specify when the change of ownership occurred. Today, this parish is included within the parish of Llavorsí.
Nearby ruins suggest a pre-Romanesque origin, though those specific structures were destroyed by a landslide. Documents from 1146 show local men pledged annual wheat payments to sustain a new church. The current parish building dates to 1758, standing next to the remains of Sant Simó.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
Discuss this with the author and others
No comments yet. Be the first to start the conversation.